They are invincible. He developed his talent by overcoming various physical disabilities. Someone drew a picture. Someone built the sculpture. The two-day International Festival of Art for the Disabled started for the first time in the country with the opening of the exhibition of such diverse art.

The two-day long festival has been jointly organized by theater organization Dhaka Theater and the British Council with the slogan ‘To build a human world with everyone’. It is being assisted by Sundaram, a theater organization for the disabled and a research institute named IID.

Valerie Ann Taylor, founder of the Center for the Rehabilitation of the Paralyzed (CRP), inaugurated the festival. Shilpakala Academy, Dhaka

In the festival, eight departmental groups of Sundaram and Kolkata’s Jana Sanskrit Center for the Theater of the Oppressed will stage a total of 10 plays. Apart from this, there are seminars, film screenings about disabled people and disabled filmmakers and exhibition of arts and handicrafts by disabled artists called ‘Adamya’. About 240 disabled artists are participating in this festival.

Valerie Ann Taylor, the founder of Center for the Rehabilitation of the Paralyzed (CRP), one of the voluntary organizations of physiotherapy in the country, started the festival by inaugurating the exhibition named ‘Adamya’ in the lobby of the main auditorium of the National Theater of Shilpakala Academy yesterday at 11 am.

The opening ceremony was also exceptional. Valerie Ann Taylor and other guests opened the exhibition by signing canvases placed on easels with their eyes closed in solidarity with the visually impaired. Later he also participated in the seminar organized on the occasion of the festival.

Valerie said, she is very happy to participate in this event. People with disabilities are backward people in society. Their problems are often ignored. All in all, he thanked the entrepreneurs for this arrangement.

Freedom fighter and cultural personality Nasir Uddin Yusuf, director of the festival, David Knox, program director of the British Council, Saeed Ahmed, CEO of research institute IID, spoke at the opening ceremony of the exhibition. British disabled theater director Jenny Selley and Member of Parliament Mahjabeen Khaled were also present.

The indomitable exhibition includes artist Nargis Pauli’s mixed media painting on Bangabandhu’s historic March 7 speech. This is the first time that Braille has been used in this painting. As a result, the visually impaired can read Bangabandhu’s speech and understand the artwork by waving their hands on it.

Apart from this, five artworks by Kaveri Sultana, an artist who received a master’s degree from the Fine Arts Department of Jahangirnagar University, Tawhid Al Ashiq, a graduate from the Fine Arts Department of Rajshahi University, two paintings each by self-taught artist Madhav Banik, Shankar Dhar, a sculptor of Old Dhaka’s Shankhari Bazar, in various mediums including metal, cement, wood, terracotta. The exhibition includes a variety of works by disabled artists in various mediums, including several sculptures. Visually impaired artist Mohan Sarkar of Gazipur Mouchak played banshi in the opening ceremony.

Opening Ceremony

Social Welfare Minister Dipu Moni officially inaugurated the festival as the chief guest at the main auditorium of the National Theater at 3 pm. The guests were UK Deputy High Commissioner Matt Cannell, London-based disabled theater director Jenny Selley, British Council Director Shannon West and IID CEO Saeed Ahmed. The festival director Nasir Uddin Yusuf presided. After the opening ceremony, five plays were staged from yesterday evening.